As I am typing this now, I just clicked on a subscription confirmation link sent to me through email. The link for what? Well, I just signed myself up for inclusion in author Kathy Reichs‘ mailing list, that’s what.

Kathy Reichs is really the reason I restarted my Maya story (although I still have to work more on that). Or maybe the more appropriate word is “cause”, not “reason”. You see, my story had been sitting around for years because several things discouraged me and I did not know how to proceed. I could, but the mere thought that it would probably just look like another Filipino story due to elements very similar to many others’ works discouraged me. I wanted something different.

Then I met BONES. If you’re not familiar with it, it was one of those earlier forensic science TV shows. Kathy created and produced the show. It ran for 12 seasons, but recently ended for good, sadly (yet, who really knows?). Now, I’ve always loved sci-fi and other science-related shows, plus I’m a sucker for adventure and detective stories. So. when those interests collided, BOOM! Bones got me so hooked!

It took me a while to learn that the show was based on a novel written by an author named Kathy Reichs. Google did its thing and I learned that Author Kathy is actually Doctor Kathy, forensic anthropologist extraordinaire. Of course, I was so impressed. I mean, since she knew her stuff, then surely, the science in her book (and the shows) was more real than fictional. And that’s when it hit me. I realized what I wanted for Maya.

It was not going to be just a fantasy-paranormal thing. I was going to add more mystery and throw in forensic science as well! I mean, currently, in the local setting, no one has done anything like that yet. If someone comes up with one in the future, remember, I thought of it first. If it’s very similar to my idea, s/he and I will need to talk.

It’s science-meets-paranormal and they don’t have to overshadow each other. Kathy caused me to do a kind of story overhaul to fit my idea. I was going to make a better version of Maya. I went back to previous drafts, totally changed several parts, and continued. I changed scenes, added characters, improved characterization, began doing research (I need to be credible after all). Well, the story is far from done, but I am working on it. I have Kathy to thank for it…

Now that that little background story is over, I am sharing an early interview with her that I found online. In fact, it’s posted on her own website. It talks of why and how she started writing, her main character Dr. Temperance Brennan, and what she thought of the show.

I just thought the time was right for a strong female heroine and for forensic science…I started ‘Dejá Dead’ in 1994. I had made full professor at the university so I was free to do whatever I wanted to do and I had just worked on a serial murder case which had some pretty intriguing elements to it, so I thought I would give it a shot. I thought it might bring my science to a wider audience.”

I was part of that wider audience, thankfully. If my request to receive the entire Brennan book series in my Dream Crate isn’t proof enough that I’m a fan, I don’t know how else to show it.

Has any writer/author ever influenced a story you wrote?

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This post hits two birds with one stone. It’s a post for #AskWednesday, and it’s a post for the A to Z Challenge. Yes, April is gone, but as promised, I am going to finish the challenge, starting with this letter I skipped:

K is for “Kathy Reichs”

This piece serves as my Letter K post for the A to Z Challenge 2017. I am currently catching up with other A to Z participants. I owe them that, first of all. Second, I do want to connect.

Vlog is the new blog. Well, at least, an off-shoot. Like it or not, it is most probably here to stay, if not take on a much newer form. After all, there was a time that vlogging was considered almost synonymous to doing podcasts until distinctions were made. YouTube became all the more popular. There are a few other platforms for this purpose, but no one can argue that YouTube takes much of the cake. Just count the people who have become viral and famous.

“Vlogging”, for the still uninitiated, is short for video blogging. Why not? “Blogging” is just short for web logging, so the principle is the same. Actually, if we were to be strict about it, it should be video logging, but probably no one except me cares. Vlogging is basically posting about something through a different medium, through the audio-visual form. Often, it’s a selfie kind of thing. Basically, you vlog/blog to share yourself and things to the world. It could be for fun and expression, for sharing relevant information, and/or for business-related purposes.

Much of the vlogging we see are done impromptu, in real-time. This is not to say, however, that it does not involve any writing. Not really. After all, there are more than one kind of vlogs. Many of them do incorporate writing. Let me mention my own observations.

INTRO/OUTRO

Most YouTube channels I’ve visited have created their own intros and outros. Well, a lot of them are simple–could even be so simple like just the unimaginative “Hi”–but there are those who have taken time to create spiels to use on a regular basis. They create their unique, hopefully recall-worthy introductions and farewell spiels.

As an example, the reactions channel HugKnucklesTV has its own intro and own outro (starts at 17:27)

TOPICS

If there are travel bloggers, food critics, life hack gurus, product reviewers, and others who love to blog, there are also similar people who choose video as their medium or (literally) channel of communication. Therefore, they don’t just pick up a camera and hit on the record button. The better ones plan well what they want to show.

BuzzFeed likes to create different types of videos that inform, entertain or both. This one is a tips video which contents are based on what the adviser says onscreen.

I definitely appreciate that.

One of my fave kinds of vids to watch lately, however, are mukbangs. Believe me, until more than a month ago, I think, I never knew what a mukbang was. It is…

“…a uniquely Korean trend of people getting paid to eat large meals in front of a webcam for a live-streaming broadcast. Mukbang is a portmanteau word that combines the Korean word for ‘eat’ (muok-da) with the word for ‘broadcast’ (bang song).” (QZ.com)

These days, a mukbang means a food review (in line with the reaction videos trend) and does not necessarily mean a reviewer/reactor gets paid for it. Well, usually. I like watching Maximum Munchies, which reaction video for a fastfood chain I shared in Contents with All the Feels.

One of the best mukbang channels worth watching, though, is The Thien Le Eating Show. Others have said it and I am going to say it: I never thought I’d watch a whole video just to see someoneEAT!!! Wow, that guy could really eat for a whole family! Without gaining weight, too, it seems! (He did explain how he stays slim)

It’s not just about the amount of food he consumes in one seating, it’s the way he eats that makes you love him. Oh, how he loves his food. Believe me, you don’t want to be watching him way past midnight with no food around to grab. Avoid the torture.

If you want to see what I mean…

Sometimes, he does a “cookbang”. Which is great because my sister and I used to watch cooking shows when I was a kid. Of course, I love Thien most for featuring Filipino food (I’m biased much!!!). And, of course, here’s a sample of his “cookbang” (just so we all can watch him eat, he he).

SCRIPTED CONTENTS

There are really lots of scripted vlog posts out there. It should not be a surprise. But rather than just go all “gung ho” and shoot, they plan their actual contents. It’s not all-visuals. Sometimes, even much research is done to come up with a credible vlog post.

For instance, here’s a how-to video that still involved writing pre-shoot and behind the scenes, for sure:

Two very good examples of scripted vids are those from the ERB or EpicRapBattles channel of Epic Lloyd and Nice Peter, who are not afraid to spoof themselves, and Whitney Avalon‘s channel that brings the Princess Rap Battles, some parody songs and comedy shorts. I have shared various samples from them before, but who’s counting?

So, for your viewing pleasure…

Artists vs. Turtles! (This would have been really epic if they made it longer and added more raps, but…)

This next one is not a rap battle, but I love that Whitney does original songs (like the Anna Song), she’s got a nice voice, and it’s about comic con!

What amazes me is the amount of time, effort, even ingenuity they bring to create their videos. First, they actually create original rap battles, and I am pretty sure some can take an amount of research as well. Second, the actors are generally actually very capable rap artists. Third, they use elaborate settings and effects for presentations that are often TV- or movie-worthy…Don’t tell me those do not take an awful lot of writing.

When we say script, though, what immediately comes to mind is dialogue. There are really funny “real-life” skits like the next ones (they do have some things to promote at the end, so feel free to ignore). Tripp and Tyler do comedy skits so well. Yes, so well that I couldn’t decide which one of three vids to leave out. So guess what.

All these are just a few samples of thousands of videos that make it on our screens. If you have worthy vlogs to share, just let us know 😉

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April is gone and I am obviously not done with my letters. Why is something I’ll reserve in my reflections post. So right now, I’ll concentrate on finishing the challenge.

Did you hear about that couple who went to a hotel and slept overnight over a dead girl’s body stuck in the bed’s box spring? How about the funhouse mummy that turned out to be a real corpse that had traveled here and there for decades? Do you know anything about the Red Room? Please don’t even Google it, or else…!!!

Urban Legends. Life just isn’t fun enough for people, right?

An urban legend, being a legend, is a kind of folklore. The difference from the regular legend, though, is it’s based on pop culture. In other words, it’s modern-day folklore. That’s where the “urban” comes from–to differentiate it from the age-old legends, not necessarily to say it just happens in urban places. The term was first recorded in 1968.

It is called by other names: urban myth, popular legend, contemporary legend, urban tale. But to tweak Shakespeare’s words, a legend, by any other name, would still be fiction. Well, mostly.

It is said that while urban legends may be a figment of people’s imagination, some of them are not exactly that totally made-up. They arebased on supposedly real stories, passed on by people to other people until many start to believe them. And many of these urban legends are passed on through writings, including through media. In the age of the millennials, the reach of these tales has widened.

Often, the idea is to scare people, which Hollywood took advantage of. Films of popular and not-so-popular urban legends have been made. Films of supposed ones that weren’t really have also been made. Why, even a movie is entitled Urban Legend , leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind that it’s meant to be suspenseful and scary. There was the film The Blair Witch Project that was fiction, inspired by various documentaries on paranormal phenomena. Ringu was specifically based on actual records of actual people also.

Fiction or not, urban legends are here to stay and even multiply. It is up to us to decide which is true, which is not, and if they actually matter.

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Any urban legends you can share? The comments section is just below to serve you 🙂

Truth? I had a hard time thinking of a topic for the U post that it took me days. I thought I’d just post my missing letters, but no, I wanted to do it forward. Then I encountered a few problems, but those, I will discuss in the reflections post once I am done.

I’m back joining the annual A to Z Challenge! Hopefully, I finish on time this time.

Well, today is Theme Reveal Day so I am revealing my very unique, never-before-thought-of theme and it’s called…

“WRITING”

Gotcha 😉

More specifically, I will be posting stuff that are writing-related. I know it’s far from unique, but I thought that writing about writing should help inspire me, right? It could actually be about anything, so let’s brace ourselves. It may include Q&As with writers/authors, short stories and poems, writer features, anything writing-related that interests me, and hopefully, interests you.

This is my third time to join. For A to Z 2014, the theme was “STUFF THAT INTEREST ME”. For A to Z 2015, the theme was “MYSELF”, meaning things related to me. I didn’t exactly join last year because I took care of 2015’s challenge all year-round (something happened in 2015 and 2016 and I had to take a lot of rest). If you’ve followed me enough, you know what it was.

Now, for A to Z 2017, I have admitted in my monthly recaps that I changed themes several times. “WRITING” is actually Plan D. I had more challenging topics, but I had to be more realistic. With work and the absence of my own laptop, what was obviously not going to be easy was really turning out to be something much more difficult, with a schedule that would be extremely hard to follow. Plan A was great, though, and I think I’ll make it a kind of regular thing instead.

I plan to post or schedule my posts sometime between 11p.m. to 11:59p.m. (a.m. here). That’s to give me time to catch up for the day if ever I have not scheduled anything.

Anyway, I hope that this set this year would be quite interesting and informative. I hope whoever lands on my pages will appreciate whatever I have to offer. So, A to Z readers, see you April!!!

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UPDATE: Because I am able to post earlier, I decided to not stick with the 11p.m. to 11:59p.m. thing and just schedule posts the earliest possible.

OH, NO, STOP RIGHT THERE!

Oh, no, stop right there!
`Cause you’re not getting anywhere
lay off me, get off my back,
take a hike and don’t come back.
Oh, no, stop right there!
Yeah, you may like me, I don’t care
please take your hands off of me,
turn around and leave me be.
Oh, no, stop right there!
No, we won’t ever be a pair
contraries to what you think,
you should really see a shrink.

No, no, no, stop right there!
Ask no questions, oh, don’t you dare
for I could really blow my top,
prepare to be karate-chopped!

After almost two days of going offline, I was surprised to find that I got 43 hourly views yesterday. I don’t know what really spiked the stats up, but who’s complaining? Definitely not me. That may not be big enough a number for power bloggers, but that’s quite big already for this simple blogger. I do know that in the coming days, the views will go up for sure and I hope viewers will not just view but stay as followers.

April is just around the corner, which goes to say that it’s time, once again, for the A to Z Challenge! Based on experience, joining has a lot of advantage, particularly, one can gain more followers just by participating. Again, I have signed up for the challenge and considering that I will be staying home the entire month of April, I really just might finish all letters on time. That’s enough motivation for me. Added bonus is I will get to practice my writing more, which is very important for writers like myself.

On a really more personal note, I see this as therapeutic for me as I go through this current phase in my life. I believe in healing oneself by learning to move on. It is not to forget, rather to cope.

That said, it is time to reveal my theme for this year — MYSELF. I don’t want to go far, or pretend to be an expert on specific topics, or be OC again and spend too much time doing research on whatever ideas I can think of. I’d like to share “ME”. For me as a writer, it’s important to share myself to my audience. They’re not going to be profound stuff (though I can’t promise none will be), but just tidbits of what makes me, Me. People in mylife, favorite things, stories, poetry, experiences maybe…I say maybe because I’m still in the process of writing down my ideas per letter. Maybe you’ll like my posts, maybe you’ll say, “Nah.” Hopefully, you’ll want to go back and stay as my new online buddies.

It’s that time of the year again. That’s right. April is so near, so if you’re a writer or a blogger, it’s time to put on your thinking cap once more and write, write, write, for the A-to-Z Challenge is so back!

In case you have not come across this until now, “…the A to Z Challenge is posting every day in April except Sundays …On April 1, blog about something that begins with the letter ‘A.’ April 2 is ‘B,’ April 3 is ‘C,’ and so on. You can use a theme for the month or go random – just as long as it matches the letter of the alphabet for the day.”

Wait, there’s more! You get to meet other bloggers and gain new followers, too. I know I did. To know more, just click on this link right HERE. Then sign up yourself, if you’re up to the challenge. Do make sure that you do it properly and get signed up successfully. I only just got listed today because when I first did that, I think that was more than a week ago, I was led somewhere else. Good thing I checked today.

The A-to-Z 2015 Schedule

Writing for the whole month could really be a challenge. I know because I struggled last year. If you have lots of time in your hands and enough creativity or zeal, there probably won’t be any struggle at all. My problem was lack of time and a tendency to be OC. I did try to finish even way past April. The funny thing was I was not able to finish — funny because all that’s left was the letter ‘Z,’ LOL!!!! And that’s because I couldn’t think of any other good way to end except with “Zombie.” More LOL-ing!!! Very predictable, unoriginal, if not redundant on my part.

Currently, I am not sure how I will fare this year, considering my situation. But the key point here is to try and have time to write. So come on, let’s try!!! (Do check out the calendar at right for your guidance).

“X marks the spot.” I’m sure you’ve heard it said, at least, in books or movies. The letter is considered as a sign, a mark, as said. In other words, it’s an exact location.

I am down to my last two letters for the A-to-Z Challenge, “X” and “Z”. “Y” came first for the simple reason that I didn’t know what “X” to write about till the other day when I had an inspiration. Then what happened this morning? I decided to check MY FOLDER and found that a lot of what I’ve written as guest blogger, under the Web Content Writing category, now lead to error or missing pages. X MARKS THE NOW-MISSING SPOTS is more like it.

I am totally disappointed. I will have to search for those articles, maybe they’re in there, somewhere else, in the same sites. Unfortunately, I think some of the domains have already expired. Right now, there are only these three that are still right there:

I know, I know. I discussed about my theme songs recently. But there’s one I forgot to add, which is just okay, because this song I am about to share is not something that’s simply meant for me. It is something that I dedicate to two important people in my life, my sister and my future husband. This song is called Hawak-Kamay. “Holding Hands” or “Hand in Hand,” in English. It is by Yeng Constantino.

Yeng was the grand prize winner of the first-ever Pinoy Dream Academy show. This was a song that she composed before she entered the competition. While at that time, she was not my favorite, this song elevated my respect for this then-teener. Originally a song she created for her cousin who was undergoing some sort of problem, this song speaks of going through the journey together, courageously, through good and bad times, with hands held. Considering how young she was at the time, the lyrics seemed to have been written by someone way beyond her years.

Very touching and meaningful, it is the perfect message for beloved people in your life, be they family, friends or special someones. Yeng may not be a favorite artist of mine, but I think she writes some of the best Filipino songs in this generation. Her song is one of my most loved Filipino songs.

Here’s the song and a translation I found below. I have had no time to do the translating myself so I tried to find one and found a non-Filipino’s version of the song (I think I can translate it better, though, if only I have the time). If you want to hear his version, click on his name.

“I’m By Your Side”
English Version/Lyrics Written by: David DiMuzio
Original Tagalog version written by: Yeng Constantino

Sometimes you’re pinned to the ground by the weight of the problem
Sometimes the world can spin you around, till you could scream out
Why won’t it end now?

You could look up to the heavens
Someone up there’s listening to us
Or maybe you could call on me
You always know at any time

I’m by your side
Through the rain, though the night, every fight
In a world that has no guarantees
I’m by your side
Hand in hand through the days that see us laugh and cry
Sa mundo ng kawalan

Sometimes the world breaks apart, underneath
The trust upon which you set your weary feet
The current pulls you towards disaster, you swim to break free

You’re not alone now, I’m not that far
Always know that you’re a shooting star
You’re never alone, Never Alone

My big sister and I grew up always arguing, so who would think I would dedicate something like this to her? Well, maybe we did not get along well, but it did not mean we didn’t love each other. When she began working, I decided to show my respect to her as a legitimate adult and didn’t argue much with her anymore. I knew she was still fond of me in a certain way because she surprised me by gifting me with stuffed toys and books, especially my collection of the Anne of Green Gables series. You know, love doesn’t always have to be shown grandly. Sometimes, it’s in the little things, if you only know how to see things in a deeper perspective.

Meanwhile, unlike most couples who have their theme songs (well, I assume that most couples do have their own), FH (future husband, okay?) and I do not have any, unless we count the first songs I ever “sung” for him, which were recorded a capella versions of Part of Your World and The Journey (he asked me to sing this again to him recently, saying he missed it). That said, this song is now officially our theme song, though he doesn’t know that yet, he he.

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I hope you liked that song because I love it!

This is my “Y” post for the…

I guess you did not notice, but I’ll confess anyway. I skipped my “X” post for now. Why? ’cause I couldn’t think of a thing! And it’s keeping me from writing anything, so I decided to postpone that one 😉

Call it idiocy, but when I changed my relationship status in Facebook last May 21, I had expected the change to go unnoticed. I seem to remember having changed “Single” to “In a Relationship” before without being noticed because I did something with the settings (I may have done THIS). Naturally, that was still my frame of mind when I chose a newer status — “Engaged.” Just five to ten seconds later, people began congratulating me and I realized it was not an invisible change after all.

That is why people thought/think this life event happened just recently. Truth was, it wasn’t a pop-the-question kind of thing. More like a matter-of-fact statement that began more than a year ago and went like this: “When we get married….” or sometimes, “When do you want to get married?” I say sometimes because these were mentioned in more than just one occasion. In several conversations, in fact.

It was never a question answerable with a YES or NO. No surprises pulled off like suddenly asking in front of a huge crowd (and it’s like the girl can’t say no that way, really). No relatives and friends secretly joining forces with the groom-wannabe. No expensive settings, elaborate plots or maybe special effects like fireworks in the sky. No death-defying stunts. No cameras. No going down on one’s knee. No OMG-I’m-gonna-cry-pass-me-the-tissue moment. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero.

In other words, no proposal whatsoever. I had jokingly told him why he ruined the surprise by saying it many times rather than saving the question to pop at the perfect moment. Being the simple man that he was, he asked if that was even a requirement. The closest he got to asking it was by saying, “Why, don’t you want to?” (to which I asked, and still often ask, “Are you sure you will marry me? Me? This Me???”)

In essence, it was true. Why pop the question when you already know the answer? Not saying all other couples who went through this sort of modern ritual were wrong. To each couple their own. Just saying there is more than one way to do it. The important thing is the noble and sincere intention. It doesn’t matter how he asks — or says — it.

An actual proposal would have been thrilling, for sure, but there is a certain feeling to be had when your partner lets you know in his own way that there is no question, he is thinking of the — not a — future with you as his wife, despite all the flaws you have that you keep counting. He is not at all hesitant to state it as a fact, as something that seems almost tangible because the proof, your love for each other, is right there in front of you. Or is shared between you. However you say it, you get the point, I dare think.

And to be honest enough, I also somehow felt the thrill, what we call kilig, the first time he popped the — uh — statement. It’s how I wanted it, anyway. It was the intimate (non-)proposal I wanted, with only the two of us in attendance. I wanted it simple, practical and sweet.

Here’s a surprise for you: THE WEDDING WAS LAST WEEK. Well, supposedly.

After my dilly-dallying and constant moving of the schedule of the wedding, I finally decided last November that this was it, I had to make a final decision and stick to it. There was no point of postponing things. Finally, then, I told him “May next year,” and that’s this year. We began planning and preparing the requirements until April when we finalized the date of the civil wedding.

Due to time and budget constraints, we decided on a civil wedding to be attended by mostly family and relatives only. To friends finding it out just now, most of you didn’t know and I apologize for not inviting, but I do hope you understand that it was never about or against you, nothing of the sort.

The wedding was to be on May 22, last Thursday, but you won’t see an actual wedding ring on my fnger just yet. What happened? Well, his mother suffered a stroke on May 8. Knowing how unwise and insensitive it would have been to push through with it, I made a decision, talked it over with him, then we told his parents we could move it on a later date. It was not a hard decision, really. It’s about health and family after all. If anything, it is buying us time to save up more and plan it better. No biggie. It was my birthday when we talked to them and I spent it the best way possible, by being unselfish.

So that new status the other day? Long overdue.

I had thought about it hard because I wanted to make sure I would do it not because I was desperate and afraid of growing old alone. I had to make sure that there was no doubt in my mind that he was the one for me and that I accepted who he was. I had to make sure there was no doubt in his own mind I was the one for him. Few people know of our story, or stories. Maybe we don’t look it but we each went through a lot in our lives. We’re still stones with rough edges. Together, we can smoothen out those edges.